As I drive around, I see congested roadways. I’m horrified when City Dock floods. And I observe an extraordinary amount of densely packed condominiums being constructed. Our infrastructure is being stressed. It makes me wonder about Annapolis’ future. The town is more than 300 years old and holds a special place in America’s history. For a brief time, Annapolis was the capital of the United States. The city is the capital of the State of Maryland, home to two fine colleges, the U.S. Naval Academy and St. John’s College, is a magnet for tourists, hosts the best boat shows in America, is a vibrant maritime center, and a place that works well for busy professionals and retirees. With all the history, growth, and pressures, what will Annapolis be like in 50 years?
Forecasting the future is never easy and rarely precise, but it does help citizens and planners to think about how to prepare for the evolution of our historic city. On the one hand, 50 years ago seems like a long time, but when you look back, it is amazing how swiftly time passes. The baby boomer generation (including me) certainly remembers the early 1970s when Richard Nixon left the White House, the nation was recovering from the Vietnam War, inflation was a major problem, and Annapolis changed when a large hotel on the waterfront prompted a new focus on historic preservation. More recently, a new garage has been built, the City Dock is about to receive a much-needed renovation, and the problems of congestion are coming into sharp focus. These issues need immediate attention and hopefully will be addressed.
Fifty years from now the world will likely be different. A new Chesapeake Bay Bridge will likely have been in place for 40 years. This Bay Bridge, named for Governor Larry Hogan, will feature four lanes in each direction with 20-mile approaches helping to move traffic. The oldest bridge will have been torn down. The three-lane bridge opened in 1973 will likely be at the end of its life or gone too. Annapolis will rediscover the utility of high-speed ferries. Commuters will be able to get to Baltimore less than 30 minutes. Almost all automobiles will be electric. Fast charging batteries will last for long periods of time. Someone will have invented a quiet leaf blower eliminating the annoying noise from today’s leaf blowers. Electrical power will be generated by wind turbine farms off the coast and on the Eastern Shore’s open fields. Solar panels will appear on the roofs of almost every building. There will be political resistance initially, but the economics of lower energy costs will encourage more use of wind and solar energy.
Everyone 50 years old or younger will have been born after this article is published. The new generation will be more environmentally conscious than our generation. As a result, the Chesapeake Bay will be cleaner, but still not perfect. The rising sea level will be a major issue. The Naval Academy seawall and elevated City Dock completed in 2026 will need to be raised again. Waterfront owners will spend considerable sums of money addressing rising water levels. The initiative to upgrade City Dock Park, as it was renamed in 2023, has served as an example for other public projects over the past 50 years.
Making changes in an historic city is never easy and often emotional. The philosophy ranges from “don’t touch a thing” to “tear it all down and build anew.” Building a consensus takes patience and persistence. The lessons learned from the City Dock Park renovation project in 2023 and 2024 were many. The first step was to define the project and work to get acceptance from a wide range of entities with varying interests. Economic considerations were an important factor in every decision. It can be similar to renovating a new kitchen. The budget expands, and the project takes longer than expected, but when the work is finished, it is worth the effort.
Improving available parking in downtown Annapolis was paramount to the City’s reimagining. Most everyone agreed that the old Hillman Garage structure needed replacing. Mayor Gavin Buckley gained considerable credibility when the decaying parking garage was completely rebuilt on time and on budget. The handful of naysayers faded when the new garage opened.
Mayor Buckley was an enthusiastic marketer of his dream to renovate City Dock. He was determined to finish the project before a succeeding administration could undo the work. Buckley and his team, including Burr Vogel, Eileen Fogerty, and Matt Fleming, realized rebuilding City Dock Park would require a significant public relations campaign to receive input from the populace and eventual buy-in for the project.
There were many factors involved in the criteria for the City Dock Park renovation. Flooding was a persistent problem and getting worse. A bold remedy was called for. Also, open space was required to be available for America’s most important in-the-water boat show. Annapolis’ precious and limited waterfront needed a serious upgrade to attract visitors. The design elements took many forms as the months passed. The Annapolis City Council felt significant pressure from various interest groups lobbying for specific requests.
Eventually, the aldermen agreed to proceed with the project. The funding came from the National Park Service, the State of Maryland, Anne Arundel County, and the City of Annapolis, along with investments by developers who added a hotel, retail spaces, marine enterprises, and tourist attractions to the mix. At the time the projected cost was $88 million. Fifty years later the budget seems like a bargain.
A key organization throughout the process of renovating City Dock Park was the engagement with Historic Annapolis. The organization was founded at a time when construction in downtown Annapolis threatened the colonial fabric for the city. Thoughts about upgrading the City Dock area had been proposed in several studies over the years but all of these efforts never moved passed the “study” stage. The breakthrough in the process happened when Mayor Buckley and the leadership of Historic Annapolis jointly started working on a plan. The rising waters of the Chesapeake Bay were no longer an occasional annoying inconvenience and rapidly became a serious detriment to conducting business, traffic flow, safety, and health. Hurricane Isabel back in 2003 and Superstorm Sandy in 2012 made dealing with climate change a priority when City Dock, the Naval Academy, and surrounding properties were swamped with extraordinarily high tides causing many millions of dollars in damage. Something needed to be done. Resiliency became an important word in the quest to hold back rising waters from ruining the city.
Additional issues included revamping the street map for better traffic flow around the dock area and creating a popular walking path along the waterfront. The project was a huge undertaking, but Annapolis has been a more vibrant place for residents and visitors over the decades since the work was completed.
Happily, Historic Annapolis will continue to maintain important buildings. The State Capital will continue to be the center of legislation thanks to on-going renovations about once per decade. The need for more office space will expand the government’s operations along Rowe Boulevard.
The Naval Academy will graduate about the same number of midshipmen each year. Many will be well educated on the use of cyber warfare. St. John’s College will still teach the lessons from the “Great Books” but will have added degrees in media studies. World leaders will have found ways to control inaccurate information on the Internet. The United States will have survived the assault on democracy. The perpetrators were found guilty and sent to prison for their crimes. The resolve of the United States to “right-the-ship” served as an example to the rest of the world that autocracy does not work. (I am making up this assumption, but I hope I am correct). There is a long history of despots meeting their demise.
The population of Annapolis will grow slightly over the next 50 years while the county will add another two hundred thousand residents. An additional lane will have been added to Route 97 at the southern end of the busy road. Traffic will diminish somewhat because many people will be working remotely in the service economy. Printed newspapers will be a thing of the past. People will get all their news on the Internet, which will be completely integrated with television. High cable, streaming and internet costs will be lower with the consolidation of content delivery methods.
Most people will enjoy three-day weekends. Outdoor activities will be important. Bike and hiking paths will be constructed throughout the area. With the cost of energy rising, the sport of sailing will be more popular than power boating. The new generation will realize that too much time on computer screens is detrimental to young people. The new generation will fix this problem.
Though poisonous insects will be a hazard, scientists will continuously find effective ways to eliminate pests. Twenty years will have passed since the city and Anne Arundel County rebuilt the sewage system and put electrical wires and cables underground. Wood burning fireplaces will have been replaced by gas. City zoning officials will have eliminated requiring historical windows and doors that are inefficient energy drains.
Breakthrough scientific studies will continue to extend cancer patients’ lives. The advances in medicine since the end of World War II have been impressive. Just 60 years ago Leukemia took the lives of 90 percent of the children that had the disease. Today, that number is down to about 10 percent. Treatments for many diseases will be found. People will live longer.
Annapolis will continue to be a desirable place to live thanks to its well-preserved historic past, the proximity to major urban centers, the attraction of the Chesapeake Bay, being the location of state government, home to top academic institutions, and a comfortable place to live. In the year 2073, as Annapolis marks its 365th anniversary, preparations will be underway for celebrating the 300th birthday of the United States in just three short years (2076).
